Exceptional Musicians Name Their Top 10 Favorite Songs, Chapter Three: Steve Madaio

Steve Madaio

This is the third in a series of blogs about the top 10 favorite songs of some of the best musicians performing today.  Steve Madaio is a music legion.  Steve along with David Sandborn performed on stage at Woodstock with the Butterfield Blues Band. He has toured and recorded with the legendary Janis Joplin, and enjoyed two world tours with The Rolling Stones.  Steve has also toured and recorded with Stevie Wonder, John Lennon, Bob Dylan, Bonnie Raitt, Madonna and Barbra Streisand to name just a few!

Steve loves the "Great American Songbook" especially the ballads.  Often when performing, he mentions when a particular song is on his personal top 10 list.  His fans, and I'm one of them, can now see his list----in no particular order.

                                        Steve Madaio's Top 10 Favorite Songs
1.  "Tenderly"
2.  "I Can't Get Started"
3.  "Smile"
4.  "Shadow of Your Smile"
5.  "When I Fall In Love"

6.  "The Nearness of You"
7.  "Body and Soul"
8.  "Over The Rainbow"
9.  "Imagine"
10. "Alfie"

The Twenty Greatest Love Ballads Ever Written

La Quinta Lemon

Recently I googled the title of this post and I was somewhat surprised that I could not find any posting of a top 20 love ballads list that includes any of the spectacular songs from the "Great American Songbook". How can this be? In fact, on most of the list of ballads that I found, I was not familiar with many of the songs.  How sad that today's generation is only into "Pop" ballads and might never have the pleasure of listening to great love ballads that have survived more than a 100 years. This is not to say that there have not been some great love ballads written more recently because there has been many. There have also been some interesting recordings of classic "Great American Songbook" songs sung by young artists.

So I dedicate this list to both young and old who love great ballads sung by great singers.  It's a mix of new and old songs that should be on everyone's ballad playlist in no particular rank.

1. "Wild Horses"                                                       The Rolling Stones                            

2. "Just The Way You Are"                                     Billy Joel

3. "Body & Soul"                                                       Frank Sinatra

4. "Your Song"                                                           Elton John

5. "Unforgettable"                                                      Nat King Cole

6. "When a Man Loves a Women"                           Percy Sledge

7. "A Song For You"                                                  Leon Russell

8. "You Are So Beautiful"                                          Joe Cocker

9. "You've Changed"                                                  Eva Cassidy

10. "Something"                                                          Tanya Tucker

11. "The Shadow Of Your Smile"                              Tony Bennett

12. "Everything I Do, I Do It For You"                     Bryan Adams

13. "The Very Thought Of You"                                Tony Bennett & Paul McCartney

14. "I Will Always Love You"                                     Whitney Houston

15. "What's New"                                                          Nancy Wilson

16. "At Last"                                                                  Etta James

17. "Here's That Rainy Day"                                        Peggy Lee

18. "Smile"                                                                      Stephen Tyler & Chris Botti

19. "Evergreen"                                                              Barbra Streisand

20. "The Nearness of You"                                            Norah Jones